Mayer: West Texas A&M Lady Buffs off to dominant run in Kellogg's first season

JACOB MAYER

Friday

Jan 31, 2014 at 10:06 PM

West Texas A&M women's basketball head coach Mark Kellogg said he saw a roster filled with quality players when the university hired him April 25, but he obviously could not be completely sure what type of team he had until he began to work with team and prepare for the season.

What he got was a group of players that has become the No. 6 team in NCAA Division II women's basketball through the first 12 weeks of the season as the Lady Buffs (16-1, 7-0 Lone Star Conference) face conference rival Eastern New Mexico (6-10, 4-3 LSC) at 2 p.m. today at First United Bank Center in Canyon.

"It's a close group," Kellogg said. "I think they're close on the court and pretty close off the court, also. They're fun to be around, good kids. It's just easy, I guess would be the best way to describe it. It's an easy group to coach."

Kellogg brought with him a much more up-tempo style of play from his seven seasons as the head coach at Fort Lewis (Colo.) College to a program that had excelled under former head coach Krista Gerlich's playbook filled with half-court sets for the past seven years and had developed senior forward Devin Griffin and junior forward Chontiquah White into two of the premier players in the Lone Star Conference.

Griffin and White were named to the all-LSC first team last season. Griffin was second in the conference with 17.8 points per game, third in total assists with 76 and sixth in rebounds with 7.6 per game.

White's rebounding average of 8.4 tied for fourth in the conference, and she was sixth in scoring with 14.7 points per game.

Both of their totals have dipped in the 2013-14 season, although they are still fourth and fifth in the conference in scoring.

Griffin has averaged 14.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game despite a cut in playing time, from 34 to 27.1 per game. White is down to 12.9 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game and 21.1 minutes per game after she played an average of 26.8 minutes as a sophomore in the 2012-13 season.

"They've had to sacrifice a little bit, but I hope they're understanding what that sacrificing has done. It's been for the betterment of the team, and that's the ultimate goal," Kellogg said.

Of course, some of that decrease in playing time is because the Lady Buffs have won several lopsided games and have played even better than the one that took conference tournament champion Midwestern State to overtime in a loss in the 2013 title game with much of the same roster.

Last season, WT finished 20-12 overall. The Lady Buffs overcame a start of 3-8 in mid-December to finish eight games above .500. WT began LSC play 1-3.

"When things were bad, we were here together, we stuck together," White said. "I think last season really gelled us together. It was more so a life lesson than basketball. We were able to see that, as a person, individually, we could fight back from being down.

"As a team, as a whole, we saw that we could come back, we could rally together, and I think the chemistry was built from there."

Griffin said some growing pains accompanied the preseason and beginning of the season as the team learned Kellogg's offense because it was so different than the system that had played in under Gerlich, but those have since disappeared for a team Griffin said is the most close-knit of any team she has played for throughout her basketball career.

"We always have a lot of stories because we don't just hang out here in the gym," Griffin said. "We leave and all go to somebody's house and we're making a lot of good memories. It's a lot of fun."

And with a two-game lead in the conference nearly halfway through the LSC season, the fun is likely to continue.

Amarillo Globe-News sports writer Jacob Mayer covers West Texas A&M. He can be reached at jacob.mayer@amarillo.com or 806-345-3315.

Today's probable starters

West Texas A&M Lady Buffs (16-1, 7-0 LSC)

Coach Mark Kellogg (First year)

NamePos.Ht.Yr.RpgPpg

Devin GriffinF5-10Sr.6.214.5

Chontiquah WhiteF5-11Jr.5.812.9

Casey LandG5-9Sr.1.610.0

Lacee LoganG6-0Sr.3.48.6

Raven GeraldG5-8Sr.2.77.5

Eastern New Mexico Zias (6-10, 4-3 LSC)

Coach Josh Prock (First year)

NamePos.Ht.Yr.RpgPpg

Tori TuckerF5-10Jr.7.310.9

Jasmine JohnsonP5-9Jr.5.810.4

Jordyn CooperG5-10So.3.49.1

Lakeeyscia GriffinPG5-2Jr.2.45.8

Jaylyn CooperG5-10So.2.54.6

LSC women's standings

TeamLSCOverall

West Texas A&M7-016-1

Tarleton State5-214-3

Eastern New Mexico4-36-10

Midwestern State4-412-7

Angelo State4-410-8

Texas Woman's4-48-9

Texas A&M-Kingsville2-57-10

Texas A&M-Commerce2-53-13

Cameron1-69-8

Wednesday's Result

Texas Woman's 79, Texas A&M-Commerce 68

Saturday's Games

Eastern New Mexico at West Texas A&M, 2 p.m.

Texas A&M-Kingsville at Angelo State, 2 p.m.

Cameron at Midwestern State, 4 p.m.

Texas A&M-Commerce at Tarleton State, 5 p.m.

Sunday's Game

Tarleton State at Texas Woman's, 2 p.m.

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